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TRANSCRIPT
UNIT 1
Piece 1:
While many of us are aware of the environmental damage done by plastic, fewer people know about the threat from the ubiquity of microplastics. Scientists first found them in our bodies more than a decade ago. Worryingly, researchers have now found them in the human heart. Scientists at the Beijing Anzhen Hospital in China collected cardiac tissue samples from 15 patients undergoing heart surgery. After analyzing the samples, they discovered tiny pieces of plastic, from a multitude of sources. They included a plastic commonly used as a shatter-proof alternative to glass, a polythene widely used in clothing and food containers, and a polyvinyl chloride used in construction.
The scientists reported finding, "tens to thousands of individual microplastic pieces in most tissue samples". Chemicals from microplastics are released into the body, potentially leading to allergic reactions, cancer, cell death, and chronic inflammation, among other complications. Scientists reckon the average person consumes around five grams of microplastics a week, or 52,000 particles a year. Microplastics are so prevalent that they make up 39 per cent of dust particles in our homes. Scientists say these tiny shards are near-impossible to remove from the body. They say it is becoming critical to limit the amount of plastic we breathe in, ingest, swallow or absorb.
Piece 2:
The United Nations weather agency has warned that extreme temperatures are "the new normal". Scientists say climate change is making heatwaves longer, hotter and more frequent. Many countries have been experiencing record hot weather in the past week. In parts of the USA and China, the mercury went over 50ºC (122ºF). In Death Valley, California, it was 53.9ºC; and in Xinjiang, China, it got up to 52.2ºC. In Spain and Italy, the temperature rose to 46ºC. Many European countries and Japan have issued heat alerts. They advised people to stay in the shade and drink plenty of water. The U.N. weather agency has warned Europe's heatwave could continue for another month.
A spokesperson for the United Nations warned of the need to cut greenhouse gas emissions. He said: "Extreme weather is increasing in frequency in our warming climate. It is having a major impact on human health…and water supplies." He added: "We have to step up efforts to help society adapt to what is unfortunately becoming the new normal." The European Travel Commission said the extreme heat is making
holidaymakers change their travel plans. People who used to holiday in Spain, Italy and Greece are choosing to go to cooler countries instead. A woman who wanted to "escape the heat" by going to Rome complained that the Italian capital was hotter than her hometown in Texas.
Piece 3:
The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced a shocking finding about the air we breathe. It has found that almost everyone on Earth breathes unhealthy air. The WHO made its air quality update ahead of World Health Day on April 7. The update reported that 99 per cent of the world's population breathes air that exceeds WHO air quality limits. It looked at data from over 6,000 cities in 117 countries. People living in lower- and middle-income countries breathe the poorest-quality air. Millions of people die in these countries because of pollution-related diseases. The WHO said: "After surviving a pandemic, it is unacceptable to still have 7 million preventable deaths...due to air pollution."
The WHO said its report highlighted the need to move away from fossil fuels. It asked governments to do more to reduce levels of air pollution. It said: "Current energy concerns highlight the importance of speeding up the transition to cleaner and healthier energy systems." It added that high gas prices, energy security, the dangers of air pollution, and climate change mean the world must be less dependent on fossil fuels. The WHO report included many recommendations for change. Among these were, "the exclusive use of clean household energy for cooking, heating and lighting," and to "build safe and affordable public transport systems and pedestrian- and cycle-friendly networks".
felt women were more likely to quit working after having children and would waste their education.
(354 words)
Piece 2:
Researchers at the University of Michigan are studying the ability of people with autism spectrum disorder to notice road hazards. The scientists plan to use their findings to help young automobile drivers improve their driving skills.
The effort will be the second part of a project supported by Ford Motor Co. The project includes the university in Ann Arbor as well as a local driving school.
The first part of the study included tests with driving simulation programs. The researchers found that students with autism spectrum disorder detected fewer hazards than those without the disorder.
But lead researcher Elise Hodges said that some extra work behind the wheel helped the students drive more safely.
“Those folks that underwent training improved in two-thirds of hazards in the simulated drive,” said Hodges. She is a clinical associate professor in the University of Michigan’s neuropsychology program.
Tate Ellwood-Mielewski is among those who plan to return for part two of the study. He is 23 years old and from Ann Arbor. He was identified as having autism spectrum disorder when he was three years old.
“I do want to be able to drive ... and get places where I want to go,” Ellwood-Mielewski said. His mother, Debbie Mielewski, helped bring together the partners to make the study happen.
Mielewski had been growing more concerned about her son’s future with no driver’s license. She worried especially about what that would mean after she and his father die.
So, Mielewski, a sustainability expert at Ford, spoke with her boss in 2018. She asked her boss, “Would you support a program to help autistic spectrum kids to learn how to drive?”
“And he immediately said, ‘Yes!’” Mielewski said.
Ann Arbor Academy, a school for students with learning and social differences, hosted driving lessons. Hodges designed the simulated drives and oversaw the study. Ford financed the research.
The goal, in part, was to provide a chance for those with autism spectrum disorder to improve their driving skills.
“Many of them … would like to drive, but getting from wanting to drive and being able to drive are two different things,” Hodges said.
(354 words)
Piece 3:
The American Medical Association (AMA) recently said the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action dealt a “serious blow” to the medical field’s goal of increasing the number of Black doctors.
Affirmative action describes the idea that it is good for society to favor people who come from groups thought to have been discriminated against in the past.
Earlier this year, the nation’s high court ruled it is unlawful for colleges and universities to consider race in choosing students.
Because the Supreme Court’s decision includes medical schools, the AMA said the ruling will hurt “gains made in the battle against health inequities.
Many medical schools used affirmative action ideas to increase the number of Black students. But even with those efforts, a University of California at Los Angeles study in 2021 said the percentage of Black doctors had only increased by four percent from 1900 to 2018.
Experts believe increasing the number of Black doctors could help Black people’s health. Right now, only six percent of physicians in the U.S. are Black but 13 percent of the population is Black.
A series of reports by the Associated Press (AP) said that Black people do not get taken care of as well as white people starting at birth. The AP reported that patients said doctors
UNIT 3
Piece 1: Afghan Girls Struggle with Internet for Online Classes There are a growing number of educational centers trying to reach Afghanistan's girls and women through online classes in their homes. Sofia is an Afghan student taking an online English course. But when the teacher calls on Sofia to read, her computer screen freezes. After a while, her computer comes back to life. "As usual," a fellow student said. Twenty-two-year-old Sofia is one of a growing number of Afghan girls and women learning online to avoid the ruling Taliban’s restrictions on girls’ education. Taliban officials have closed girls’ high schools, and barred women and girls from universities. They also have prevented most women from working at non-governmental organizations. However, one of the biggest changes since the Taliban were first in power from 1996 to 2001 has been the growth of the internet. Almost no one had internet service when the Taliban were forced from power in the weeks following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. The World Bank estimated that, after nearly 20 years of the Western intervention, 18 percent of the population had internet service. The Taliban administration has permitted girls to study individually at home. It also has not moved to ban the internet, which its officials use to make announcements on social media. But girls and women face many barriers to learning. These include loss of electricity and very slow internet speeds. Computers and Wi-Fi, local wireless internet service, are also very costly in a country where 97 percent of people live in poverty. "For girls in Afghanistan, we have a bad, awful internet problem,” Sofia said. Her online school, Rumi Academy, had enrollment of mostly females rise from about 50 students to more than 500 after the Taliban took over in 2021. It has had hundreds of additional applications. But a representative of the school said it cannot enroll them because it does not have enough money for teachers, equipment and internet.
Piece 2: UN Report: 71 Million More People Reported to be in Poverty As many as 71 million more people are reported to be in poverty as a result of increased food and energy prices. These prices rose in the weeks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) said in a recent report. The UNDP estimates that 51.6 million more people may have fallen into a poverty level defined as living off of $1.90 a day or less in the first three months after the war. An additional 20 million people dropped to the poverty line of $3.20 a day. UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner said at the launch of the report, “The cost of living impact is almost without precedent in a generation... and that is why it is so serious.” Precedent means a similar event that happened at an earlier time. The speed at which this many
people experienced poverty went beyond the economic pain felt during the worst part of the pandemic. The UNDP noted that 125 million additional people experienced poverty over about 18 months during lockdowns and closures. In comparison, around 71 million hit poverty in just three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in late February. “The speed of this is very quick,” said George Molina, UNDP chief economist and writer of the report. Among the countries hit hardest by inflation are Haiti, Argentina, Egypt, Iraq, Turkey and the Philippines. Rwanda, Sudan, Ghana, Kenya, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan are also in the group. More people in these countries, some of which have had political problems like Sudan and Sri Lanka, are facing poverty, noted the UNDP. In countries like Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Mali, Nigeria and Yemen, the effects of inflation are felt deeply by those already at the lowest poverty line. In Ghana, where the daily minimum wage is $1.80 a day, people are struggling under the weight of inflation. Another U.N. report released Wednesday said world hunger rose last year with 2.3 billion people facing moderate or severe difficulty obtaining enough to eat — and that was before the war in Ukraine. The UNDP’s Steiner said the world economy needs to step up. There is enough wealth in the world to deal with the crisis, he argues. “But,” he said, “our ability to act in unison and rapidly is a constraint.” The UNDP advises that governments spend more to reach the most affected people through targeted direct payments to them. These payments are known as cash transfers. For developing countries to do such transfers, the UNDP called for an extension of debt payments that had been in place during the pandemic among the world’s richest nations.
Piece 3: Poor Countries Face Crises Because of Too Much Debt A study by the Associated Press (AP) found that 12 countries may face economic collapse if they fail to repay foreign loans. The countries borrowed a lot of the money from China. The AP researched the 12 countries most indebted to China. They include Pakistan, Kenya, Zambia, Laos and Mongolia. The AP found that those countries are using increasing amounts of tax revenue to pay back their debt. That money is also needed to keep schools open, provide electricity and pay for food and fuel. Paying debt is also using up the countries’ foreign currency reserves. The countries use their reserves to pay interest on foreign loans and for several other purposes. The 12 countries had as much as 50 percent of their foreign loans from China. Most of those countries were spending more than one third of government revenue on debt payments. Zambia and Sri Lanka have already defaulted. In finance, to default means being unwilling or unable to pay back a loan. In Pakistan, millions of workers who make cloth and clothing have lost their jobs because the country has too much foreign debt. The AP said the government cannot afford to keep the electricity on and machines running. Sri Lanka lost 500,
UNIT 4
Piece 1:
Social media is awash with information and graphics about the ongoing events in Israel and Gaza. There are concerns about how much of the content posted online is fake. The European Union has just opened an investigation into the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter. The EU says there is an alarming volume of posts containing false information on X. EU officials have expressed concern that X was, "being used to disseminate illegal content and disinformation". X has until the end of next week to answer a series of EU questions about this content. Failure to satisfactorily address these issues could lead the EU to impose a fine on X of up to five percent of the company's daily global turnover.
The EU probe into X comes under the bloc's Digital Services Act. This was established to monitor how large tech companies deal with the hate speech posted on their platforms, and how they police the Internet. An EU spokesperson advised X to introduce, "proportionate and effective mitigation measures" to identify and delete disinformation. He added: "We have, from qualified sources, reports about potentially illegal content circulating on X, despite flags from relevant authorities." Hundreds of bogus accounts have been flooding the Internet with harmful and inflammatory content. The CEO of X said the site had removed hundreds of these accounts. A social media expert lamented this was, "a drop in the ocean".
Piece 2:
The world is experiencing troubling times. We have the COVID-19 pandemic, a global cost of living crisis, a changing climate, and record heat waves. The United Nations has warned of an increasing danger – nuclear annihilation. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that one small mistake could lead to a nuclear war. Mr Guterres warned that international tensions were "reaching new highs". He pointed to the Ukraine War, the Korean peninsula, and the Middle East as possible flashpoints. He said, "we have been extraordinarily lucky so far" to have avoided nuclear conflict. He said: "Luck is not a strategy. Nor is it a shield from geopolitical tensions boiling over into nuclear conflict."
Guterres painted a picture of a world close to war. He said the danger level is at its highest since the Cold War. He warned that: "Humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation." Guterres was speaking at a conference
for countries signed up to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. This started in 1968. He said the conference was "a chance to strengthen" the Treaty and "make it fit for the worrying world around us". He added: "Eliminating nuclear weapons is the only guarantee that they will never be used." He said: "Almost 13,000 nuclear weapons are now being held in arsenals around the world…at a time when the risks of proliferation are growing."
Piece 3:
A new kind of foreign fighter is on the move. These individuals are arriving by the thousands in areas where conflicts are taking place. They are either looking for new experiences or hope to fight for their cause. And they are getting the attention of intelligence officials in the United States and other countries.
These foreign fighters are not jihadists hoping to join the self-declared Islamic State group or al-Qaida. They are political extremists and white supremacists. They are traveling to Ukraine in large numbers. In fact, the numbers are similar to those of the movement of fighters to Syria early in that conflict.
A new report says that more than 17,000 people from 50 countries -- including the United States -- have traveled to Ukraine in recent years. It said they have gone there to join both the forces loyal to Ukraine’s central government and pro-Russian forces. The report comes from The Soufan Center, a U.S.-based nonprofit research group.
“White supremacy extremism is a transnational challenge,” the Soufan Center warned. The study found white supremacy attracts from Australia to Ukraine, and Norway to New Zealand. “White supremacists are forming global networks, much as jihadis did” before the 2001 attacks against the United States, the report said.
(198 words)
Piece 3: The United Nations human rights office says criminal groups have forced hundreds of thousands of people in Southeast Asia into unlawful online scam operations. A scam is a dishonest way to make money by tricking people. The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights released a new report on the issue on Tuesday. It said that at least 120,000 people in Myanmar and about 100, in Cambodia “may be held in situations where they are forced to carry out online scams.” Cybercrime scams have become a major problem in several Asian countries. Many workers are forced to join in scams targeting people over the internet. Criminal groups have increasingly targeted migrants. They offer false promises of real employment to the victims. The U.N. rights office said it is hard to estimate how many people are caught up in such operations. It is also difficult to know how much money the criminal groups make through their scam operations. But it is believed to be in the billions of U.S. dollars every year. Some victims have been subjected to torture, cruel punishments, sexual violence and other crimes, the rights office said.
(196 words)
UNIT 6
Piece 1:
Argentina has welcomed a United Nations decision to include a former secret detention and torture center as a World Heritage site.
A UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) conference in Saudi Arabia agreed this week to include the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory on its list of places “considered to be of outstanding value to humanity.”
The former Navy School of Mechanics, known as ESMA, is in the Argentinian capital, Buenos Aires. It contained the most infamous illegal detention center that operated during Argentina’s last dictatorship --- from 1976 through 1983. It now operates as a museum and a larger site of memory, including offices for government agencies and human rights organizations.
Argentina’s President Alberto Fernández praised UNESCO’s decision in a video message. The memory must be kept alive, he said, “so that no one in Argentina forgets or denies the horrors that were experienced there.”
Fernández later said to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday afternoon: “By actively preserving the memory that denialists want to conceal, we will prevent that pain from recurring.”
It is estimated that some 5,000 people were detained at the ESMA during the dictatorship. Many detainees were tortured and later disappeared. It also housed many who were later thrown into the ocean or rivers from planes known as “death flights.”
The ESMA also housed pregnant women brought from other illegal detention centers. They were kept there until they gave birth and their babies were later taken away by military officers.
Argentina’s Human Rights Secretary Horacio Pietragalla Corti praised the decision to recognize the site. He said it is a strong answer “to those who deny or seek to downplay state terrorism and the crimes of the last civil-military dictatorship.”
A video posted on social media by Argentina’s Foreign Ministry showed the official with tears in his eyes as he celebrated the UNESCO decision.
“It's uncontrollable and we fear that Mt Fuji will soon become so unattractive, nobody would want to climb it,” he said.
Mt Fuji was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage area 10 years ago, further increasing its popularity. World Heritage areas are places that the UN protects for having great value to humanity.
But the listing came with conditions that Japan reduce the number of visitors, environmental harm from visitors, and fix man-made areas designed for visitors.
However, the number of visitors has increased. “Subaru,” the fifth and largest base station, had about 4 million visitors this summer. That is a 50 percent increase from 2013.
Despite the hard work of cleaners, businesses, and volunteers, social media is filled with posts about dirty bathrooms and waste along the climbing path.
Izumi worries that the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), which advises the World Heritage Committee, could come looking for an update.
(357 words)
Piece 3:
A metal statue lies in a dark and secure room of the Sanaa National Museum. It was from the kingdom of Saba in what is now the Yemini province of Marib.
The piece was made in the first half of the sixth century BC. It survived the latest war in Yemen. Many other artifacts have not.
The Sanaa museum escaped years of bombing by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in their war against the Houthi group.
Ibrahim al-Hadi is the museum's director. He said, “Other areas around the museum were targeted and that led to the destruction of some artifacts and to cracks in the walls of the building itself.”
Most of the collection was moved to safe rooms in the museum when the Saudis began bombing Yemen in 2015.
Collections of Arabian swords, rifles and helmets, some covered with gold, are packed in boxes. Two metal lions from the kingdom of Qataban sit in the back. They were restored at the Louvre Museum in 2008.
Yemen’s museums are the richest in the Arabian Peninsula. But they are a reminder of the cost the war has taken on the country’s cultural history.
Nature and war combined to destroy the National Museum in Taiz. Inside lies burned manuscripts and broken glass. Trees are growing through the building and have helped pull down the walls.
Ramzi al-Damini is the Taiz museum director. "Shelling destroyed the buildings,” he said. “The collection was looted and fires burned down rooms.
The Yemeni General Authority for Antiquities and Museums is working with the Global Heritage Fund to rebuild parts of the buildings.
The Taiz museum has lost around 70 percent of its collection. Some stolen artifacts have been found in local markets. Volunteers have also brought back other pieces.
Ahmed Jassar is with the Taiz museum. He said some pieces have been taken illegally outside the country.
"It is not easy to get them out of Yemen, only powerful people with international connections can do that," he said.
I’m Dan Novak.
(337 words)
economic programs in the country. Some of those projects are considered critical to U.S. efforts in Asia. South Korean Trade Minister Ahn Duk-geun spoke of the trade dispute at a press conference Tuesday. It should be treated separately from those programs, he said. But, the issue could, he said, “shake the trust in the trade relationship itself.” (242 words) Piece 3: U.S.-China trade tensions look to be escalating. First, came news that Beijing was set to restrict exports of key metals used in chip-making. Officials said that would cover some shipments of gallium and germanium products. Analysts said Monday's move was a response to U.S. efforts to restrict Chinese access to some chips and related technologies. The news sent industry players scrambling to secure supplies of the critical metals. Then, on Tuesday, came news of Washington's possible next steps. The Wall Street Journal says the Biden Administration is preparing to restrict Chinese access to U.S. cloud computing services. If confirmed, that would likely require firms like Amazon and Microsoft to get permission before supplying some services to Chinese customers. The report says the move will come within weeks. Now the question is, what might come next? Some in the tech industry fear China could respond with restrictions on the supply of rare Earths, those are specialized metals used in key tech like electric cars and military equipment. China is by far the biggest producer, giving it major power over supplies.
(183 words)
UNIT 8
Piece 1: Tensions between the U.S. and China have companies looking elsewhere for production facilities. Who's benefiting the most? Our Seema Mody is here at Post 9 with a look at that morning, Seema. Good morning! The ongoing issues in China are really leading to this reshoring boom that we're seeing in Mexico, and it's finally showing up in the data. It's being led by the automotive industry, with Tesla setting up a $15 billion gigafactory, General Motors, Ford building vehicles there, Cummins with heavy-duty trucks. More capital flowing into Mexico is fueling cross-border shipments.
Freight transportation company RXO says volumes have grown about 30 percent year over year, and one of the benefits of doing business there is lower costs. Manufacturing labor is cheaper than in China and it's been that way for more than eight years, according to strategists. Mexico's government has also been pitching companies on a new Corridor that would rival the Panama Canal, seen as one way to accelerate trade with the U.S. and bring more business to Southern States. Crime, though, specifically cargo theft, remains a key risk for foreign companies. Experts also point to the country's political backdrop, with a presidential election coming up next year. So far, that's not impacting market sentiment. The iShares Mexico ETF is outperforming other emerging markets, up about 21 percent this year, and the currency, the Peso, has been strong as well. (235 words) Piece 2: Vietnam has enjoyed a wave of investment from China since its northern neighbor ended its zero-COVID policy late last year.
Chinese companies invested in 45 new projects in the first 50 days of 2023, Vietnamese government data showed.
Major foreign companies including Samsung, Canon, and Hon Hai, the maker of Apple iPhones, already had factories in Vietnam. But supplies for many still largely came from China.
Industry experts say the new investors are mostly smaller suppliers to larger companies that were already established in Vietnam.
The move is related to the rising cost of labor in China, in addition to expanding U.S. restrictions on high-tech trade with China.
